314 The American IVoodcock 



would dive like a night-hawk, slanting sometimes 

 for several hundred feet. Birds so occupied 

 appeared to dive at random in any direction, but 

 most of them eventually worked back toward their 

 original rising-points — presumably because the 

 object of their devotion was somewhere in that 

 vicinity. The love-making of the Wilson's snipe 

 is somewhat similar. 



The nest, frequently found in a low-lying maple 

 thicket, consists of a few dry leaves drawn together 

 on the ground. The four pear-shaped eggs are 

 buff, spotted with reddish brown, and considerably 

 larger than a novice would expect from the size 

 of the bird. The young are tottery little things, 

 able to run feebly as soon as dry. They some- 

 times make what seems like a half-hearted attempt 

 at hiding, but at both running and hiding they 

 lack the nervous speed and cleverness of such 

 spry small rascals as young quail or grouse. 



The mother, surprised with the young, makes 

 no great demonstration, usually fluttering up 

 amid the saplings and down again at no great 

 distance. On such occasions I have heard her 

 utter a low quacking sound, once or twice re- 

 peated. If the discoverer of the young will retreat 

 and conceal himself at some point from which he 

 can observe the subsequent proceedings, he may 

 see the female return and remove the young one 

 at a time. This I have not seen done in the case 



